I know little of UK politics, I know 99% less than that of US politics. I'm not sure who's who, Democrat or Republican, but that Obama's party are the good guys. I know even less of how the two parties would compare to ours on the 'wing' sliding scale.

In all fairness if there was one debate that he was going to be vulnerable on just like any other American president it is the economy so not unexpected. Romney still needs a huge turnaround to close the deficit that he has in the polls!

Nick Clegg was the most impressive in the first debates in our last election!!!

American friends have said the 'debate' was boring and pointless, they both talked over each other, went over time, never answered the questions and said nothing substantive. So, normal politics, then.

Romney is a moron comparable only to Reagan or Bush Junior therefore anyone bar Dick Cheney would be preferable.

In the Republican nomination race, Romney looked like a slick operator up against Gingrich, RuPaul, that woman who kept gabbling on about witchcraft etc. Then he came over to Europe and came across as a clumsy rube. The Democrats will be playing on that, I'm sure.

Between the optimist & the pessimist
The difference is quite droll:
The optimist sees the doughnut,
The pessimist sees the hole.

In the Republican nomination race, Romney looked like a slick operator up against Gingrich, RuPaul, that woman who kept gabbling on about witchcraft etc. Then he came over to Europe and came across as a clumsy rube. The Democrats will be playing on that, I'm sure.

The problem is that the American electorate don't care much about or have much knowledge of foreign policy.

As Jon Stewart said on the Daily Show, Obama is one lucky ###### to be up against a man and a party who are mad as a bag of frogs, only Romney is luckier to have fought for the GOP nomination against Bachmann, Gingrich, Santorum et al. I'm an unashamed Obama fan, he can do no wrong IMO.

The problem is that the American electorate don't care much about or have much knowledge of foreign policy.

Most Americans don't have passports. Large numbers of Americans live thousands of miles from the sea or their neighbouring countries So. I suppose we'd be the same in the same situation. I suppose the ones who venture abroad have a different outlook. We met two American couples this summer, one in the Crown Liquor Saloon in Belfast and the other in a bar in Rouen and they were really friendly and seemed like really nice people.

Edited by Trojan, 04 October 2012 - 10:03 PM.

"This is a very wealthy country, money is no object" D. Cameron February 2014

I know little of UK politics, I know 99% less than that of US politics. I'm not sure who's who, Democrat or Republican, but that Obama's party are the good guys. I know even less of how the two parties would compare to ours on the 'wing' sliding scale.

Obama hasn't been a bad president - I think particularly domestically he's done some good things, and probably deserves credit for steering the US economy to slightly safer waters - but my impression is that when it comes to the "big picture" stuff he's been found wanting.

The US defecit problem is still unresolved (is it next year that the US govt will run out of money again?); he's fudged the withdrawal from Afghanistan; the middle-east as a whole looks as mental and dangerous a place as it ever did; and he's continued some of the shameful policies of previous administrations - drone bombing of civilians in Pakistan perhaps tops the list.

If he get's a second term I hope he takes a few more chances.

Romney to me looks like another stuffed dummy politician: charming, presentable and reasonably bright, but utterly malleable to his proposers' and supporters' wishes. Not to be trusted in a position of power.

I also reckon Obama should have gone for Clinton, H. as a running mate.

It's not a question of coming down to earth, Mr Duxbury. Some of us, Mr Duxbury, belong in the stars.

He's fudged the withdrawal from Afghanistan; the middle-east as a whole looks as mental and dangerous a place as it ever did; and he's continued some of the shameful policies of previous administrations - drone bombing of civilians in Pakistan perhaps tops the list.

The MidEast being a mess is hardly Obama's fault. It has been a mess for decades and will be so for decades to come.

The US don't have a policy of drone bombing civilians. They target terrorists and sometimes civilians get caught up in it, said but the nature of war.

How has Obama fudged the withdrawal from Afghanistan?

I find myself agreeing with NS again (!), the Middle East mess has absolutely nothing to do with Obama and the policy of drone strikes against Al Qaeda operatives has systematically whipped out much of the Al Qaeda leadership leaving them a dispirited, fragmented and smallscale world player. The drone strikes have been a massive success (but controversial of course).